Google’s plans for a major development in downtown San Jose are solidly supported by city and county residents.
This is according to polling done for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which found nearly eight of 10 respondents support the project.
“That is a blowout of biblical proportions,” said Carl Guardino, the Leadership Group’s CEO.
The polling is an annual project by the group and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percent based on 431 registered Santa Clara County voters.
It included four questions on the project by Alphabet-owned Google and found that:
- 62 percent had heard of the Google project,
- 79 percent supported it vs. 16 percent opposed and 5 percent with no opinion,
- The same 79-16-5 breakdown applied to support of this type of development mixing jobs, housing and mass transit in an urban setting, and
- The prospect of 20,000 new jobs drove support over the provision of new housing by 54-35 percent among San Jose residents and 54-38 country-wide.
Opposition to the project has been visible, however, in the form of protesters at Mayor Sam Liccardo’s recent state-of-the-city speech and meetings and demonstrations organized by Silicon Valley Rising.
Guardino said the poll results challenge the opponents’ claims that they represent the view of the majority of San Jose’s residents.
